Why do you need transcoding? For a bunch of reasons. What it does have is something called Intel Quick Sync, which is basically super optimized video encoding and decoding hardware, which is great for when you need to decode a 4k video file and reencode it on the fly for users of your Plex server (something we call transcoding). It's fine, but it isn't particularly powerful. The DS920+ by Synology that everyone recommends, that's running an Intel Celeron processor. A NAS combines storage and a server (a CPU basically) all in one. They're good for people without something like an Intel-based Mac mini. What do NAS servers get you? First, they don't need an external server like I already have. So if your goal is to not spend a lot of money, well, you might be in the wrong hobby. So with that out of the way, let's answer an important question: Why do people run NAS/Plex servers?Īnd as best I can tell the answer is NOT because they're cheap, but because they're convenient and relatively simple to setup. So if I were to 'upgrade' into a NAS server, I need to know what I'm getting myself into. Since 2018, I've owned an 2018 Mac Mini, attached to my network via ethernet, with an external hard drive attached to it via USB and then I run a Plex server on the Mac Mini and it works pretty well for not only serving up media but also transcoding 4k. I don't own a NAS although I've done some research into it. So before we get to that, let me give a bit of background about me. Let's start with the first question you didn't ask: 'I want to get a NAS server and run Plex on it to watch 4k movies.' My first question to you is, why?Īnd I ask that simply because it might not be what you actually want. Hey OP, you have a bunch of question in your post and a bunch of implied questions so I'll try to answer them all as much as I possibly can but you're waiding into relatively technical waters here so beware.

Plex nas